Gladiators have become heavily mythologized figures, in part thanks to famous works of fiction like the film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, or the classic Spartacus, but what were they like really? Pollice Verso, With a Turned Thumb, by Jean-Léon Gérôme. Perhaps no figure from ancient Rome is as famous as the gladiator - a warrior of the arena that fought to the death against beasts, criminals, and other gladiators, for the entertainment of Roman society.
